Keyboards
Find general works about keyboard instruments, modern and historical, below. Find additional resources at the dedicated Piano Research Guide and Organ Music Research Guide.
General Resources
The recommended books below include general works on keyboard and keyboard music as well as books specific to the histories of the organ, piano, harpsichord, and clavichord. Perhaps one or more of these topics will inspire your next research project. Books are sorted by their call numbers for ease of browsing. Click on the info icon to see a description.
Keyboard Music Before 1700 by
Keyboard Music Before 1700 begins with an overview of the development of keyboard music in Europe. Then, individual chapters by noted authorities in the field cover the key composers and repertory before 1700 in England, France, Germany and the Netherlands, Italy, and Spain and Portugal. The book concludes with a chapter on performance practice, which addresses current issues in the interpretation and revival of this music.
Call Number: ML549 .K49 2004Publication Date: 2004
The New Grove Early Keyboard Instruments by
The New Grove Musical Instruments Series, a companion to the much-acclaimed New Grove Composer Biography Series, presents in book form many of the lengthy and informative articles published in The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Each book is a comprehensive guide to all facets of an instrument: its history, construction, repertory, playing techniques, and makers, written by leading authorities.
Call Number: ML549 .N48 1989Publication Date: 1989
The Organ in Western Culture, 750-1250 by
How did the organ become a church instrument? How did it develop from an outdoor, Mediterranean noisemaker to an instrument which has become the embodiment of Western music and responsible for many of that music's characteristics? In this fascinating investigation, Peter Williams speculates on these questions and suggests some likely answers. He considers where the organ was placed and why; what the instrument was like in 800, 1000, 1200, and 1400; what music was played, and how. He re-examines the known references before 1300, covering such areas as the history of technology, music theory, art history, architecture, and church and political history. Central to the story he uncovers is the liveliness of European monasticism around 1000 AD and the ability and imagination of the Benedictine reformers. Professor Williams's approach is new in both tactics and strategy, giving an interdisciplinary idea of musical development relevant to those both in and out of music.
Call Number: ML553 .W54 1993Publication Date: 1993
The Language of the Classical French Organ: A Musical Tradition Before 1800 by
The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries witnessed the growth of a unique relationship between the French organ and the music written for it. Until recently, however, the roots of this precise musical tradition lay hidden in the sixteenth century. Illuminating these mysteries for the modern audience, Mr. Douglass has traced the development of the French organ from the sixteenth century through the Classical Period (1655-1770). This authoritative study of the French classical organ is a major source for the interpretation of early French organ music. For this new edition, the author has added a chapter on touch in early French organs and its importance for practice. The bibliography has also been extensively revised.
Call Number: ML574 .D69 1995Publication Date: 1995
Piano-Playing Revisited: What Modern Players Can Learn from Period Instruments by
Today's pianists are expected to play music of three centuries on a single instrument: Steinway's design from the late 1800s. Other types of pianos, such as Mozart's Walter or Chopin's Pleyel, are increasingly being copied or restored, but they are played almost exclusively by specialists in "Historical Performance." David Breitman has been introducing Oberlin Conservatory students to historical keyboards since 1991, and in this book he focuses on the music he cares about most deeply and the problems he has found most perplexing. He begins by acknowledging the dilemma of confronting historical repertoire with modern instruments, then shows how to apply insights from period instruments to practical problems on any piano.
Call Number: ML650 .B69 2021Publication Date: 2021
The Clavichord by
The clavichord, forerunner of the piano, was one of the most important instruments in Western keyboard history until the first decades of the nineteenth century. Bernard Brauchli's comprehensive history fills a major gap in the literature on this instrument. Beginning with the earliest-known references, he traces the clavichord's evolution up to the mid-nineteenth century, ending with a study of performance technique. What emerges from this study of the various sources is an overview of the essential role this instrument played both socially and musically for more than four centuries, restoring the clavichord to the position it justly deserves in history.
Call Number: ML651 .B73 1998Publication Date: 1998
The Cambridge Companion to the Harpsichord by
Written by fourteen leading experts in the field, this Companion covers almost every aspect of the harpsichord - the history of the instrument, tuning systems, the role of the harpsichord in ensemble, its use in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and includes separate chapters devoted to Domenico Scarlatti, J.S. Bach, and Handel. Chapters featuring almost every national style are written by authors with close connections to the countries about which they are writing, including England, the Netherlands, Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, as well as the less extensive harpsichord traditions of Russia, the Nordic and Baltic countries, and colonial Spanish and Portuguese America. With musical examples, illustrations, a timeline of the harpsichord, and an appendix of composers, reliable editions and original sources, this book is for all who love the harpsichord, or want to learn more about it.
Call Number: ML651 .C36 2019Publication Date: 2019
Historical Harpsichord Technique: Developing La Douceur du Toucher by
Yonit Lea Kosovske surveys early music and writing about keyboard performance with the aim of facilitating the development of an expressive tone in the modern player. Reviewing the work of the pedagogues and performers of the late Renaissance through the late Baroque, she gives special emphasis to la douceur du toucher or a gentle touch. Other topics addressed include posture, early pedagogy, exercises, articulation, and fingering patterns. Illustrated with musical examples as well as photos of the author at the keyboard, Historical Harpsichord Technique can be used for individual or group lessons and for amateurs and professionals.
Call Number: ML651 .K67 2011Publication Date: 2011
Giraffes, Black Dragons, and Other Pianos: A Technological History from Cristofori to the Modern Concert Grand by
This lavishly illustrated book treats the history of the piano from its invention in 1700 to the present in terms of its technology. Looking at the technologies of design, materials, and manufacture, and focusing its description on specific existing pianos, it describes the changes in pianos from the earliest days to contemporary instruments. This revised edition incorporates the results of recent research that increases knowledge of the work of Bartolomeo Cristofori, the inventor of the piano; changes perceptions of how eighteenth-century pianos were made and used; adds to the available information about the important contributions of the Steinway Company; and describes the most recent changes to the piano.
Call Number: ML652 .G6 2001Publication Date: 2001
The Harpsichord Owner's Guide: A Manual for Buyers and Owners by
Kottick presents technical information in an accessible, but entertaining, way: the forms and styles of harpsichords, advice on purchasing decisions, maintenance techniques (such as voicing, regulating, and changing strings, tongues, plectra, springs, and dampers), aids in troubleshooting common problems, and detailed instructions on tuning and temperament. As builder of some thirty keyboard instruments, Kottick is well qualified to speak on the subject.
Call Number: ML652 .K67 1987Publication Date: 1987
The Keyboard in Baroque Europe by
Twelve of today's most distinguished scholar-performers offer essays in this volume on new and intriguing aspects of Baroque keyboard music. Topics include fresh evidence on music of the seventeenth century (Frescobaldi, Froberger, and Purcell), the place of the keyboard in concerted music and on comparative teaching methods (Couperin, Marpurg, and Roeser), studies of the repertoire of J.S. Bach and his sons (including ornamentation in C.P.E. Bach and the Polonaises of Wilhelm Friedemann), and writing on the later eighteenth century (including Mozart) and on matters of repertoire and performance practice (continuo playing, improvisation). The volume gives a balanced picture of the latest theories and discoveries in keyboard music, of interest to both academic and performing musicians, and includes a new arrangement for keyboard of Bach's D minor Violin Partita, published here for the first time.
Call Number: ML720.1 .K49 2003Publication Date: 2003
Playing Bach on the Keyboard: A Practical Guide by
In this concise and accessible volume, a noted keyboard artist and Bach specialist takes a fresh look at the performance of J.S. Bach's keyboard music. Addressing the nonspecialist player, Richard Troeger presents a wide range of historical information and discusses its musical applications. The author shares accounts of the musical styles Bach employed and the instruments he knew. In direct and pragmatic terms, he clarifies the importance of notational and style details as guides to the composer's intentions, particularly emphasizing changes in notational norms between Bach's time and the present. Troeger offers core information on dynamics, articulation, tempo, rhythm, ornamentation, and accompaniment. He considers controversial issues as well, establishing the importance of the clavichord in Bach's milieu and examining the link between Baroque music and rhetoric - a dramatic relationship that can bring great vitality to performance.
Call Number: MT179 .T76 2003Publication Date: 2003
Electronic Keyboards
Keyboard Presents Vintage Synthesizers: Groundbreaking
Instruments and Pioneering Designers of Electronic Music Synthesizers, by Mark Vail
Modern MIDI: Sequencing and Performing Using Traditional and Mobile Tools, by Sam McGuire
The MIDI Manual: A Practical Guide to MIDI in the Project Studio, by David Huber, 3rd ed.
Interlibrary Loan
Users are encouraged to search for items beyond University Libraries' catalog via RILM Abstracts of Music Literature and WorldCat. Materials not available in print or online may be requested through Interlibrary Loan. Please allow up to seven days for electronic delivery and up to fourteen days for delivery of physical items.